Tue Sep 30, 2014

Right now I'm suffering from a lack of vacation. Sure I've done a few long weekend outings and had time off with the family, but nothing really where I've been able to get away and remove myself from the world in a way that my brain seems to require at least once a year. I have something on the books to look forward to, but right now that can't soon enough and I've found myself reminiscing on vacations of yore to remember the feeling of escape that I'm in eager anticipation of right now. My last real getaway was to Spain over a year and half ago, and as part of my looking back, I've been awash in the fondness of all that I ate there. Mostly those meals were tapas, and I surprisingly found my favorite dishes were those that included only a few ingredients, but they came together in such a way that their centerpiece was heightened to a type of deliciousness I hadn't quite experienced before.

One example of that were these unassuming grilled mushroom caps stuffed with a green mayo that had a great herbal and garlicky flavor. I tried to recreate something similar after I got home, and am proud to say that even if these cremini mushrooms stuffed with basil and parmesan mayo are not a 100% direct copy, they're every bit as incredible as their inspiration.

Tue Dec 24, 2013

I know Christmas hasn't even passed yet, but I'm already looking ahead to New Years. While my attention at Christmas wanders to grand mains that command a presence at the center of the table, New Years is all about the finger foods. Keeping up the excess and richness of the season, I like to go a little bigger in scope on New Years than my everyday wings or peppers—although there's always room for those as well. When considering a stuffed mushroom that might be suitable for the celebration, the standard cheese and breadcrumb mixture didn't seem take things far enough. So I went in search for some inspiration and came across these crab and Fontina stuffed mushrooms and thought they were the answer I was looking for, so I gave the recipe a try.

Tue Sep 3, 2013

This weekend at the Meatwave I'm going to take another shot at something I've failed at numerous times in the past—veggie burgers. Being a self-described "meatmaster," I pay fairly little attention to the needs to my crazy friends who've never heard of the food chain. It's probably because of this that I have never stopped long enough to consider what would make a grilled veggie burger recipe work, and didn't care enough to put the effort into finding out. During my last veggie burger failure, I took an easy way out and picked up a sack of giant portobello mushrooms to turn into "burgers." Intended for the folks who have yet to graduate from Bovine University, I even surprised myself in concurring that these are some pretty damn tasty sandwiches.

Tue Mar 6, 2012

Humor me for one more week of this veggie-wave I have going and you'll be well rewarded with an explosion of meat very soon. For now though, I'm still stuck on the idea of what will be the first thing I cook at my first competition, which just happens to not be meat. Bridging a gap here, I have these spinach and cheese stuffed portobellos, and portobellos are just "like a steak," right?

Thu Jan 13, 2011

As expected, the holidays have left more than few additional pounds reading on the scale, which is on top of all that I amassed last year. Looking at me you may not be able to tell, but my sister-in-law hit the nail on the head when she labeled me a "skinny fat person." Sure, I'm still fitting into medium shirts (arguably) and 32" jeans (after mastering the art of sucking-in), but I know all too well the truth that lays underneath. So that means it's time for a salad. Salad, what? No meat, what what what??!? Yes, that's right, at least once this year I'll sit down and consume something healthy for me, but it's sure as hell is still going to be grilled!